The prosecution on Friday raided the Employment and Labor Ministry on Friday as part of its probe into allegations that ministry officials overlooked the alleged illegal hiring of dispatched workers by Samsung Electronics Service Company. 

Investigators at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said they began the search of the ministry's Seoul building from 10 a.m. Friday. 

The raid comes after the labor ministry’s committee on reforming labor and administration requested prosecutors to launch a probe into the issue. 

The committee said it had confirmed that back in 2013, senior ministry officials inappropriately intervened in an inspection on allegations that the subsidiary of Samsung Electronics illegally hired dispatched workers from a temp agency. 

In June and July of 2013, the labor ministry regularly conducted labor inspections on Samsung Electronics Service and its subcontractors. In September of that same year, the ministry concluded that the workers were recruited legally.  

Suspicions arose later that, in the process of drawing that conclusion, senior ministry officials had colluded with Samsung officials to wield a negative influence on the results of the labor inspections.